


Lover-ly

by Hazel_Inle



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Hux doesn't care until he does, Krennic is an asshole, Love/Hate Relationship, M/M, Mitaka is in love, Mutual Pining, My Fair Lady AU, Pygmalion AU, Tarkin is so smooth its a sin, Thrawn is a a total art fanatic, Vader is in a perpetual "kill me now" mood, kylo Ren is a fanboy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-14 01:19:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9150442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hazel_Inle/pseuds/Hazel_Inle
Summary: Lost child of Arkanis, Armitage Hux is in constant war with his superiors in his backwater academy, dooming himself to certain shame. However, upon a chance meeting with two of the Highest officers in the Empire, Hux is suddenly opened to a world of possibilities he never thought obtainable. But he only has six standard galactic months to perfect his image as a General of the Empire.





	1. Chapter 1

Hux could argue all he wanted, but the fact of the matter was that he didn’t care for his peers, nor did he mind being caught. He just hated being stuck in this _room_. Cuffed and told to sit, he was slumped on a bench that was pushed against the wall of the detention area, waiting for his punishment to be dished to him.

He had perhaps gone too far this time, but there were so many times he could ignore someone whispering, “ _bastard”_ under their breath every time he passed. He admitted, perhaps slamming the boy’s head into the concrete floor to teach him a lesson was a bit too far, but at least the cadet wouldn’t be saying “bastard” anymore.

He wouldn’t be saying _anything_ for a while, actually. Not without therapy. That was probably why he was waiting so long; he had been here enough to make them wonder just what they were going to _do_ with him. No punishment worked on him; not even flogging.

He was not alone in the room, thankfully. He was given entertainment in the form of his supervisor, a gentleman in a slightly modified uniform, and a very flashy man in white. The strangers were there because the office for discipline in the next room over had the all leaders of the school (Hux took partial pride in having caused such a fuss to garner even _their_ attention as negative as it was), and no doubt each had their own business with someone or another. That was the only way Hux could think of why they were present. They definitely seemed important to an extent, and obviously were wealthy.

The gentleman didn’t mind saying a few words of encouragement to him when he noticed the cuffs on Hux’s wrists.

“it is hard being trampled upon, but most anyone can bring themselves back from a mistake.” Here he had gazed with a serious eye. “I would hate to see a cadet fly so far out into the Unknown Regions that he cannot fly back.”

As if he hadn’t heard that one before. Still, better than hearing his _father_ say it.

The _other_ stranger, however, was not so kind. Instead, he stood with the supervisor, smirking and whispering to him while letting his gaze wander to Hux every so often. He even so far as went to _point_ at him.

Hux’s temper flared and only the thought of worse punishment kept him in his seat and not throttling the flashy officer with the metal of his cuffs. He growled as though he were a feral animal at the stranger in white, already hating the very air he breathed regardless of how little he knew of him.

“I don’t care what right you have, what do you gain of mocking me behind my back?” he snarled suddenly, grabbing the attention of everyone in the room. He had been, up to this point, silent.

“Not mocking, boy, but _studying_. You see, your behavior is exactly what I would expect of a shamed son of Arkanis.”

Hux was about to argue his opinion of his own studying on the stranger, when the man’s words sunk in, and took meaning. Hux wilted under the knowledge that he knew so much about him, but burned with curiosity on how he did it. However, it seemed the supervisor standing not too far away also took on an interest.

“Where do I come from?” he inquired the man in white.

“Coruscant. Second tier,” was the instant reply, almost as if the question was too easy.

“By the maker…” he breathed in surprise, before pointing to the other important individual, the very gentleman who gave cordial words to Hux, regardless of the binders on his wrists. Hux watched with apt interest as the lavishly dressed officer looked up and down over the gentleman before giving a triumphant smile.

“Eriadu. High class. Stationed a time on Coruscant, am I correct?”

“Indeed!” replied the gentleman, not surprised, but obviously in interest. “What is your business that requires you to pick apart others by assuming their speech and mannerisms?”

“Simple; it is best to know who surrounds you when your enemy could be anywhere. That was what I learnt from building advanced weapons, especially with so many collaborators involved. You can never be too aware.”

He smirked with the ease of a Arkan-cat, and it seemed that the man of Eriadu was all too eager to knock his fellow officer off his podium.

“That is a very good skill, Director Krennic, though this childish display of talent to the young and lesser rank is hardly admirable.”

The man in white perked up with a twisted expression.

“I almost thought you were going to play along. Of course you wouldn’t, Grand Moff, Tarkin…” Krennic hissed in distaste.

The gentleman responded with his own look of distain.

“I _prefer_ the title _governor_ ,” he replied.

“Really? You prefer a title that’s below your standing? Impudent, I might say.”

The two men then began to bicker amongst themselves, though without any venom that could be considered _true_ hatred. There was obviously something about the other that they respected, but pride and conceit were in play. Hux noticed the subtle glances that they were exchanging between themselves, and reminded Hux of a particular stunt he pulled with a fellow cadet, and the punishment of “public display of indecency” that followed.

However, interesting their interaction was, being ignored never sat well with Hux, and as a result demanded to be heard once more.

“well, _I_ have never heard of you,” he proclaimed, directing his speech to Krennic. “But I _do_ know capes are hardly used by any officer in the military unless they believe they have something to _prove.”_

Krennic whirled around and towered over the seated Hux with stormy eyes.

“Remember that the world you walk upon is but one in a million, and is just as significant a single star in a galaxy of systems. Recall that the society in which men such as myself and perhaps Tarkin have built is not only for your protection and security, but also for your _betterment_ , boy!”

Krennic whirled around to face Tarkin.

“this child from the gutter that you see before you now? If he doesn’t change his course of action, he shall be doomed to a life of ill repute and at best anonymity. If _I_ were to teach him the ways of an officer, I could pass him off as a _general_ at the _Annual Embassy Officer’s Ball_ on Coruscant in just half a standard galactic cycle! I could even get him into one of the academies at his home world, Arkanis, which require _manners_ and _discipline._ ”

The first half of the boast meant nothing to Hux, but the _second_ part, caught his immediate attention.

“What’s that you say?” Hux murmured with hungry curiosity.

Krennic ignored him again. Tarkin laughed partially at the brag, but it danced upon mocking. But to both Krennic and Hux’s astonishment, Tarkin then extended an invitation to Krennic to join him on his trip back to Eriadu. Tarkin assured that it was no trouble in comparison to that of Krennic’s disregard to protocol, and that the estate was more than full of its own comforts, as harsh of a land as it was. A knowing smirk flashed at Krennic, and Hux suddenly understood what he was implying.

Regardless, Hux fumed at being ignored once more.

“You make all this talk and pfassk about how important you are, yet you don’t even bother to _help_ me, regardless of talking about me!” He shook his arms with the cuffs rattling to further his point. Krennic gave an annoyed look in his direction, before turning to the officer in charge.

“Bail him out on my credit chip,” he said dispassionately before glancing back at Hux’s bewildered face. “A tidbit on Imperial hospitality, _boy_.”

With a swish of his cape, Director Orson Krennic and Grand Moff Tarkin, two of the most important and influential men in the galaxy, left. In all but ten minutes, the credits were confirmed, and Hux was ordered back to his bunk, and with no dinner offered.

Hux trudged back to with a hung head, his mind full of thoughts in the, “what if,” category. _If_ he did learn such talents from the best, _if_ he did assume a better manners and countenance…he could be more than just some bastard on a backwater academy. He could be… _more_.

Ignoring the other cadets in his dorm as they questioned him why he wasn’t in the school brig as he should be for the next week, he laid down on the thin mattress and wrapped himself in the see-though blanket.

_Is it so much to ask for more? I don’t even need a ship or a fancy rank. just comfortable private quarters, second helpings, and an enormous greatcoat to keep warm in…maybe even a warm body to be with._

Hux sighed and pressed his face into the sad smelly excuse of a pillow.

_Wouldn’t it be love-er-ly, as mother would say…_


	2. Chapter 2

Despite every possible offense that Hux had indeed partaken in his academy career, as terse as it was, the school was reluctant to let him leave. “Reluctant” was a very loose term. All that was required for Hux to leave was essentially to sneak out of the dorms, infiltrate the security, and then cross the entirety of the campus to reach the main gate. He knew they would not try very hard to reclaim him.

By the time he had officially left the grounds and passed under the crumbling stone and rusting metal archway, dawn was just starting to breach the grey dusty landscape, bathing the pale earth bright orange and red.

His hair, his mother had said, made his head look he was on fire the day she dropped him off to the academy in the early morning light. He had scoffed and brushed her aside as though her comment irritated him. Now he regretted that he ever gave her a cold shoulder. She had died not long after. Of what, he didn’t know. But what he did know was that not even after she was cold in her grave did his father take another woman to be his mistress, a maid instead of a kitchen hand.

The comment above was the last words his mother ever had said to him, followed by an “I love you.”

It seemed almost ironic that the last words of his mother was also the last sign of affection he had received in his short but hard life. It was as the flashy director had said; he was a shamed son of Arkanis. But what was unsaid was also a well-known truth: Arkanis boys didn’t know when to quit.

After bribery after bribery, Hux was able to slip into a shuttle that would take him a part of the way to Eriadu. Upon landing on a backwater world that rivaled the one he went to school on, he parted ways with the dingy little ship and made his way onto a refugee ship, identification and credits being all he had left to his name.

The journey was thankfully a short one, and he could escape his surroundings of the poor souls wandering across the galaxy for prosperity. Hux would at first sneer at them, before realizing with partial humility that he too was one of them, whether he admitted it out loud or not. He had left everything to search for the possibility for something better.

 _He could turn you down. What would make him want to teach you anything? Out of the goodness of his heart? You’d sooner receive officer etiquette from a_ Hutt _._

The planet of Eriadu lived to its name of being one of the most hostile planets inhabited by humans. Not only was the landscape bitter and foreboding, but the people themselves seemed just as harsh, carved by their origins of taming the land from the monsters that once ruled over a wilderness.

Finding the Tarkin estate was a feat even a youngling could do. All one had to do was say the name Tarkin, and every local and tradesman would point in the direction of the nobility. He was told to look for the Coruscant styled home, though was warned it was not entirely true to the city planet. Hux saw what they meant immediately. It seemed like it was a knockoff, rather than actually in the stylistic bounds of the gleaming world that was the capital. Hux did not mind; the estate in which he grew up upon had similar taste and a familiar resignation of trying to be socially accepted to that of the core worlds, only to achieve the reputation of a cheap wannabe copy.

He was admitted to the house, as a potential tourist, as of the estate was up for tours in the lesser used parts of the house. However, just as the housekeeper was about to explain the significance of Jovah Tarkin in the family, Hux ducked down a hall and made his way to the western wing, abandoning his guide to prattle way to no one (she didn’t seem to notice his absence). 

He was stopped, however, by a fresh young face with slicked back dirty blonde hair and a snobbish expression.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded.

 _Interesting, not even a “who are you?”,_ Hux mused.

“Tarkin invited me,” Hux proclaimed, hoping his confidence would take the man aback. He was disappointed when he just sneered in return.

“The only man Governor Tarkin has admitted by personal invitation was Director Krennic, and they are currently occupied,” he snapped. Hux rolled his eyes.

“With each other, I imagine,” he said flatly. The man’s brown eyes widened in horror at the statement, and Hux took this as an opportunity to shove him violently out of his way. In a flash, he was running down a hall and searching for indication of-

“Stars above!”

The hymn that was the rolled ‘R’s’ and the sophisticated linguistics that poured from a familiar persona made Hux grind to a halt, and whirl around to face none other than Tarkin himself in all of his collected glory. Untouchable...

“Strange, to find you here in my house…” the Grand Moff murmured in quiet contemplation. “Were you not supposed to be in the academy on-”

Hux was not so reigned in. In an instant, he was upon the man, snatching his wrists in a demand for complete attention, which it was given with a dash of surprise.

“Teach me, Grand Moff Tarkin,” he said with conviction.

Tarkin’s expression went from shocked, to confused, to amused in a matter of seconds, and allowed a small chuckle to escape him, while he freed his wrists from Hux’s stony grip with a calm but chiding movement.

“I cannot, I’m afraid…” he replied. “There was never an offer to do so, and if an entire academy could not do it, then why should I?”

“An offer for what?” a new voice joined. Hux’s temper prickled at the condescending tone, and knew exactly who it was without looking.

“To teach this cadet to be a proper officer, Krennic. I believe that was _your_ point,” Tarkin called over his shoulder.

Krennic stepped forward from the room behind Tarkin, and Hux did not miss the slight dishevelment of his hair, as though hands had gripped it. The director’s mouth also looked far more used than previously on Hux’s academy world, and it was obvious that the cause was not from excessive _talking_.

 Krennic crossed his arms and scrutinized Hux from head to toe.

“I made no such offer either,” he announced. “Have that adjutant of yours throw him out.”

“No!” Hux cried stubbornly. “You _did_ offer! You said you could make me a general! That you-”

“Shut your mouth, boy,” Krennic demanded impatiently. “I. Did _not_. _Offer_. It was a boast; a proclamation of my talents over your incompetence.”

Hux raged at the jab, but resolved to be insistent.

“Offer or not, I have come to make you good on your boast; for you to give me direction-”

“The only _direction_ I shall give to you, is the direction to the front _door,_ ” Krennic cut him off. “It is all you are worth, after all.”

“Krennic, please, you have forgotten your place. He is, after all, in _my_ household, and thus at liberty to stay until _I_ throw him out.” Tarkin circled around Hux with his eyes boring into him, while Krennic silently fumed at being reprimanded.

“What is it you want, cadet?” he asked calmly. Hux gulped under his gaze, but tried to appear as confident as he did with the dirty blonde he encountered before.

“I…I want to be an officer. A graduate from Arkanis academy, instead of rotting away on the edge of the unknown regions. But they won’t take me unless I have a reference, and it can’t be my father, whom I wouldn’t go to anyway. At Krennic’s brag, I knew-”

“The one thing you shall take away from this experience, if nothing else,” Tarkin interrupted with sudden ferocity. “Is that when you speak of a higher ranked individual, you shall uphold rank. It is the respectful thing to do, Cadet.”

Hux took a step back, but kept himself confident.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good.” Tarkin nodded with finality. “Now that we have come to the heart of the matter, I believe that there can be an arrangement of sorts.”

“Governor Tarkin!” Krennic cried in outrage.

“Silence yourself, Director,” Tarkin replied with glee. “This is the very sort of thing that you enjoy so much!”

“Whatever do you mean?” Krennic rasped.

“Think of this: you train this cadet, fool everyone at the Officer’s ball and get away with it, then I shall have no choice but to give way to you in light of your talents, and would appeal for more time on your _project_.”

Krennic seemed to not believe his ears.

“And why would you be so generous as to do _that,_ Sir?” he snapped.

“Because,” Tarkin continued lightly, airily. “If you fail, I shall be the one to ascend to the rightful ownership of the project.”

“You _dare!”_ Krennic yelled in a mixture of horror and rage.

“Oh, I _do_ ,” Tarkin sneered. “And know this; I shall be most impressed with your victory, and even go as far as respecting you. I may even turn my gaze the other direction should you attempt to retrieve Erso, and urge the emperor to allow you the freedoms you once had.”

Krennic stewed for a moment, weighing his options carefully. Hux watched with intrigue as the man finally acquiesced.

“Very well. But assure me that I shall not have interference when I leave to collect Erso.”

“ _If_ you find Erso. There is no evidence that you will. He is too intelligent to be easily tracked down.” Tarkin spared a glance at Hux’s confused face.

“Now then, I believe you-”

“Governor Tarkin!”

The three men whirled around to see who was calling. The sound of frantic running footfalls echoed over the hall as the familiar dirty blonde ran straight up to Tarkin, out of breath and glaring furiously at Hux. Hux couldn’t stop his own distasteful look as a reply.

“Perfect timing, Thanisson!” Tarkin commended. “This cadet will be staying with us for the next six months. Third guestroom shall do. Take him there, have him cleaned, and get rid of his clothes. Have him borrow some of yours, they should fit.”

Any sort of demand or outcry that Thanisson was holding in, was lost by the end of Tarkin’s speech, and was reduced to sputtering out questions of "why" and "how," only for them to be answered with Tarkin's retreating form. Thanisson gave up with a tired exasperated sigh, before leading the once-intruder upstairs.

Hux could barely feel his feet on the ground.

**Author's Note:**

> The awaited My Fair Lady AU for all your Tarkrennic needs with a dash of Hitaka shenanigans. ^^


End file.
